Kit: No. FFM001
Scale: 1/700
Manufacturer: Futscher’s Fine Molds, 9694 South Ave., Poland, OH 44514, phone 330-549-0502
Price: $11.50
Comments: Resin cast, 21 parts (2 brass wires, 3 nylon bristles).

The Gato class was perhaps the most famous of American submarines to see combat in World War II. The first sub of the class, USS Drum, was commissioned in 1941 and was on active duty at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. After war was declared, the War Department ordered an additional 132 Gatos.

Molded in cream-colored resin, Futscher’s kit may be built as either a waterline or full-hull model. In either case, you’ll have to provide a base.

The parts are loosely packed in a plastic bag, and several of the delicate resin castings of my kit were broken, but repairable. Many of the parts are tiny; for a while I thought the 20mm gun which had broken off its sprue was a piece of flash.

You’ll have to sand excess resin from the upper and lower hull halves just as you would sand excess plastic from a vacuum-formed kit. Be careful, though, as it is easy to sand away too much. It is difficult to hold the small parts during cleanup. I broke off one of the prop-shaft supports from the bottom hull.

After sanding my upper and lower hull pieces did not fit well. The lower was too short and narrow compared to the upper hull. I glued them together aligned at the bow, then used super glue to build up the rear of the lower half, and Squadron white putty to blend the sides.

After an hour of careful scraping, the railings are still too heavy for this scale, but close to what you would get in an injection-molded kit. When the hull was finished, I attached my sub to a scrap-wood work block using the brass rods included in the kit.

I airbrushed the entire hull with Floquil red-oxide primer. Then I masked the waterline, and sprayed the upper hull with Floquil dark gray. After the paint was dry I added a thin black-decal-stripe waterline.

The propeller blades, rudder, and aft diving planes must be carefully separated from a large block of resin. Even with care, one of the props was unusable (a third is provided), and the aft diving planes required filling and reinforcing with super glue. The prop shafts in my kit were out of round and too delicate to sand to shape; consider replacing them with fine tubing and wire.

All parts were attached with super glue. I broke off the barrel of the 5″ gun during cleaning and replaced it with stretched sprue. All of the detail parts were brush painted. Black oil paint was used as a wash in the recesses, then the upper hull was lightly dry-brushed with light gray to bring out the detail. Finally the periscopes were added using the nylon paintbrush bristles provided in the kit.

Despite appearing crude in the bag, Futscher’s Gato looks good when finished. The model measures only 11′ short in length, and 2′ narrow in the beam compared to the dimensions in Squadron/Signal’s U.S. Subs in Action. That’s only 1/4″ short in 1/700 scale; hardly noticeable. More important, the model captures the look of an early Gato.

I spent about eight hours building my sub, a bit more than usual due to cleanup time and fixing fit problems.

John Plzak